BDRunner, Mar 19: – Teacher Humayun Kabir Joni has made a name for himself in the area by cultivating sweet pumpkin as a companion crop in his litchi garden. He has succeeded in cultivating sweet pumpkin in his litchi garden for the first time. Other farmers are also encouraged by his innovative initiative and success.
Humayun Kabir Joni (40), an agricultural teacher at Nehalgaon High School in Bochaganj upazila, is the son of Joynal Abedin of Atgaon village in the same upazila. He himself took the initiative to cultivate sweet pumpkins on the fallow land below the litchi garden on an experimental basis. He was successful the first time.
Humayun Kabir said that he first bought 1,200 improved varieties of sweet pumpkin seeds from Dinajpur and made seedlings at home. He planted the seedlings he had made in a litchi garden of one acre of 20th century land.
In January, he planted seedlings of different varieties of sweet pumpkin and saw more than 10 pumpkin buds on each sweet pumpkin tree. But he is collecting 5 to 6 pumpkins on the advice of the Agriculture Department. This has increased the size of the crop and has enabled him to keep the sweet pumpkin trees pest-free.
There are a large number of mango and litchi gardens in Dinajpur district. Thousands of acres of land lie vacant under the trees in each garden. Local agriculturists believe that starting sweet pumpkin cultivation as a companion crop in the land under the trees in those gardens will have a significant impact on the agricultural economy of the district.
Talking to BDRunner, Johnny said, “I have cultivated three varieties of sweet pumpkins in the litchi garden. I have spent about one lakh taka to cultivate these pumpkins. So far, I have sold sweet pumpkins worth one and a half lakh taka to wholesalers from the field. Now there are many more sweet pumpkins in the field.
He said, “I hope to earn 5 lakh taka by selling sweet pumpkins this season.”
When asked about this method of cultivating sweet pumpkins in litchi gardens, Johnny said, “I am a school teacher in the agriculture department. I have thought about this method myself. Because the fallow land below the litchi gardens is usually lying. So I cultivated pumpkins in that fallow land for the first time and got success.”
When I went to Humayun Kabir’s sweet pumpkin field in Sarezmin, I met Abdur Rahim, a farmer from the same area. Abdur Rahim told BSS, “I came to know through Facebook that sweet pumpkins can be cultivated in litchi gardens.
So I came to see the method. It is very good to see sweet pumpkin cultivation in litchi gardens. I will cultivate sweet pumpkins in my mango garden next year.’
Rezaul Karim, field officer of the Bochaganj Upazila Agriculture Department, told BSS that seeing Humayun Kabir’s success, many litchi and mango garden owners in the district are coming to the Agriculture Department for advice. Those garden owners are being advised to cultivate sweet pumpkins in the land under litchi trees. However, sowing seeds of improved varieties of sweet pumpkins in these gardens will increase the success rate.
He said that if sweet pumpkins are produced in thousands of acres of litchi gardens in the district, it will meet the needs of the district and will be able to meet the vegetable needs of other districts of the country as well.’
Bochaganj Upazila Agriculture Officer Nayan Kumar Shaha said, ‘Agriculture teacher Humayun Kabir Joni has succeeded in cultivating sweet pumpkins in a litchi garden for the first time on his own initiative on one acre of land. I hope that farmers will benefit from good yields by cultivating in this way. On behalf of the Agricultural Extension Department, we are providing him with technical advice. I applaud this initiative of Humayun Kabir Joni.
Dinajpur Agricultural Extension Department Deputy Director Md. Nuruzzaman Mia said, I recently inspected sweet pumpkin cultivation in litchi gardens in Bochaganj upazila of the district. This is a successful initiative. He said that garden owners will be encouraged to cultivate companion crops including sweet pumpkin in the fallow land between the trees in litchi and mango gardens in 13 upazilas of this district.
He said, ‘If success is achieved in cultivating sweet pumpkin as a companion crop in litchi and mango gardens, it will have a huge impact on the agricultural sector of the district.’
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